Biosorption of nickel using mixed cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis

  • K. Uthra Department of Environmental science, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore - 641 014, India
  • K. Kadirvelu DRDO-BU Center for Life Sciences, Bharathiar University Campus, Coimbatore - 641 046, India

Abstract

 Biosorption of Ni(II) was investigated in this study using dead biomass of gram positive (Bacillus subtilis) and gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa).The effects of pH, initial adsorbent dosage, initial metal ion concentration, contact time and temperature were studied in batch experiment. A contact time of 40 min, pH 5.0 and temperature 30oC were found to be optimum. Nickel removal decreased from 77 to 45% as the concentration increased from 50 to 250 mg/L. The Ni(II) removal increased from 45 to 75% as adsorbent dose increased from 0.25 to 1.5 g/L. The Langmuir and freundlich models for dynamics of metal of metal ion uptake proposed in this work fit the experimental data reasonably well. The adsorption capacity (Qo) calculated from Langmuir isotherm was 89.08 mg for Ni (II). 

Author Biographies

K. Uthra, Department of Environmental science, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore - 641 014, India
Ms K.Uthra has obtained her M.Sc (Environmental Science), M.Phill
from PSG CAS, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. in 2014 and 2016
respectively. Her main area of research interests are in bioremediation,
microbiology and heavy metal removal.
K. Kadirvelu, DRDO-BU Center for Life Sciences, Bharathiar University Campus, Coimbatore - 641 046, India
Dr K.Kadirvelu has received his PhD from Bharathiar University, in
1998 and he has completed Post doctoral research at France, in 2000.
Currently he is working as Scientist ‘F’ at DRDO-BU Center for Life
Sciences . His current area of research interests includes Heavy
metal removal, environmental remediation, nanomaterials, activated
carbon, activated carbon nanofiber, polmer based nanofibers,
quantum dots, bacterial cellulose, chemical sensing and biosensing.
Published
2017-11-10
How to Cite
Uthra, K., & Kadirvelu, K. (2017). Biosorption of nickel using mixed cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. Defence Life Science Journal, 2(4), 442-447. https://doi.org/10.14429/dlsj.2.12278